The present invention refers to bicycle handlebars. Typically, bicycle handlebars comprise a master tube, two handgrips at opposite ends of the master tube, and a stem for attaching the handlebars to a fork associated with the front wheel of the bicycle.
In the field of bicycles, there has always been a need to reduce the weight of every component, so as to reduce the effort that the cyclist must make. In particular, this requirement is very important in the case of racing bicycles. In order to reduce the weight, increasing use is made of materials that combine lightness and mechanical strength, like so-called composite materials, but of course the search to gain the maximum weight reduction can lead to the risk of an unacceptable reduction in strength.
If, for whatever reason, the strain to which a component is subjected exceeds its mechanical strength and yielding does occur, this can have more or less serious consequences for the cyclist. In particular, if it is the handlebars that yield, the situation for the cyclist is extremely dangerous, because it can lead to the sudden and total loss of control of the bicycle.
The danger for the cyclist is increasingly great depending on how sudden the excessive strain causes a sudden yielding, as typically occurs with composite materials based on carbon fibers.
There is therefore the problem of reducing the risks for the cyclist in the case in which an excessive strain leads to the handlebars yielding.